H&R Johnson Launches Red Ramp Project to Aid Visually Disabled

The Red Ramp Project by Johnson Tiles seeks to create awareness for making India access-friendly for the differently-abled, with Katrina Kaif as goodwill ambassador

Leading Indian ceramic tiles manufacturer H&R Johnson (India) has launched the second phase of its Red Ramp Project, in the form of an evocative TV commercial. Through the project, the company aims to spread awareness in order to make India accessible for the visually impaired with the use of tactiles in public spaces. The first phase of the Red Ramp Project was executed in 2015 by H&R Johnson.

Speaking about the initiative, the company’s senior general manager-marketing Ketan Trivedi said, “H&R Johnson is known for bringing out innovations in products. We also strongly believe in being a socially responsible entity and contributing to the welfare of the society at large. The first step towards bringing any change is to create awareness.”

Actress Katrina Kaif, who is goodwill ambassador for the campaign, has commented, “The tactile campaign by H&R Johnson can impact a lot of lives in a beautiful way. I am very happy to be associated as a Goodwill Ambassador of the campaign, and we can all collaborate with the authorities to make India more accessible for the differently-abled. Together we can become the face of change.”

Trivedi highlighted that over 2% of India’s population suffers from some form of disability. “Of the 37 million blind people in the world, over 12 million are from India. The Government of India’s Accessible India Campaign is a very noble initiative that aims at achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities (PwDs). The Red Ramp Project is a small step from H&R Johnson for raising awareness for the need to make India access-friendly for our differently-abled brethren,” he said. “We hope this project enables people and other organisations in India to sit up, take notice, and contribute in their own way towards making our country access-friendly”

Conceptualised by Soho Square, the campaign features Adwait Marathe, a person who is blind since birth yet is an established actor, singer and theatre personality in real life. He portrays how tactiles help him commute independently in his daily life. The campaign is about instilling self-confidence in the minds of the visually disabled, to be able to move around independently with the support of better infrastructure. The aim of the campaign is to nudge every individual to contribute in some small capacity, starting with looking at public places around them with sensitised eyes.

While speaking about the campaign, Soho Square’s ECD and creative head Anuraag Khandelwal said, “We always knew that the Red Ramp Project couldn’t be a one-off initiative. We had to follow through. And that’s when tactiles came into the picture. After months of research and meetings with the visually-impaired, we realised that for some, even a fifty metre journey is akin to climbing a mountain. And that became the driving force behind the current TVC. It’s not the disability that stops them, but the lack of appropriate infrastructure that doesn’t allow them to live their daily lives independently.”

Johnson Endura tactiles are one innovation from H&R Johnson’s portfolio. These tiles are laid in public places to provide cues combined with information, to assist visually challenged people to commute independently. These tiles have been laid in a number of places across the country. They have been used in railway stations in Mumbai including at Bandra and Mumbai Central, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, besides in Kochi Rail Metro projects.

To garner support for this initiative, H&R Johnson has created a portal www.redrampproject.org, which also enables people to connect across social media platforms and increase conversation on the topic.